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We have been in Ireland with our tug-style, electric narrowboat, Ampère, for 6 months and, despite repeated assurances from well-meaning locals that we would surely sink if we were to venture onto whichever came next of Loughs, Allen, Erne, Ree and Derg, have cruised them all safely by dint of the simple expedient of waiting for calm weather. The Irish waterways are attractive, varied and mostly easy to cruise, and the Irish, their boaters in particular, are most welcoming. We have had a fabulous time and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is considering going. Without for a moment pretending that we know even most of what there is to know, we can also offer some advice to anyone in that position, our principal recommendation being to allow two years, split north and south, rather than the one that we did. However, all good things must come to an end and, although we will be here for another few months yet, we are starting to plan our return to the UK next Spring. If possible, we would be like to reduce costs by sharing transport and/or craning with anyone who wants to bring out a boat from England - or simply crane one in or out in Ireland. We will need to crane out from the Grand Canal, probably but not essentially, at Sallins and need to be back in the UK by the end of the first week of April but are quite flexible about our earliest date. If anyone reading this is interested in sharing, or merely wants to chat about the Irish waterways, please get in touch.


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Sounds nice :)

 

Will have a chat to the misses about it. We had been thinking of taking one of the boats to France but the French are a bit rude :lol: (misses is French). Anyway I never even considered Ireland before ! How many miles of waterways are there over there?

As the boat I am referring to is over 7ft wide and based in southern england I guess the transport would have to be from Bristol or somewhere down that way.

Edited by magnetman
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Had our 50 ft narrow boat over in Ireland for 2 years based At Shannon harbour. It was taken over by an Irish hauler on an extentable trailer and craned in at Salins. We brought in back to the UK to sell it as we intended to buy a small Tjalk or similar to take back to Ireland as some of the big lakes can be a bit hairy with a NB as the wind gets up quickly and can whip up some big waves. It was loaded at Shannonharbour and but in at Calcut Boats.

The Grand Canal is pretty easy going and even the bog is interesting and the River Barrow navigation is well worth doing. The Shannon with its big lakes makes for a real contrast but the highlight for us was the beautiful lakes upper and lower Erne a Lake District we had no knowledge of and areal hidden gem.

Only drawback the Irish weather as its not called the Emerald Isle for no reason but the pubs and the music great.

David

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Sounds nice smile.png

 

Will have a chat to the misses about it. We had been thinking of taking one of the boats to France but the French are a bit rude laugh.png (misses is French). Anyway I never even considered Ireland before ! How many miles of waterways are there over there?

As the boat I am referring to is over 7ft wide and based in southern england I guess the transport would have to be from Bristol or somewhere down that way.

 

All the Irish waterways are broad, ie: 14'wide but with a shorter maximum length than the UK at 60'.

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Thanks for those contributions.

 

In answer to Magnetman, there are about 500 miles of navigable water, about 200 of which is true canal and a further 60 or 70 is what we in England would recognise as canalised rivers, the balance being the big lakes and connecting rivers, principally the Shannon. However, it's exploring the many side streams and the harbours on the big lakes which takes the time and leads me to suggest a two year trip. We didn't allow time to do these justice. It wouldn't be difficult to spend a 3-4 weeks exploring Lough Erne alone.

 

Getting a broad beam moved shouldn't be much of a problem, though I suppose it depends on just how broad it is. In the days of the IWA Nationals boats up to 12' beam used to arrive regularly by road. Just Google "Boat Haulage" or some similar phrase and a dozen names will come up. Don't ignore Irish ones as you might be able to get carried as a back load (that's if you don't share ours). There is a list of Irish carriers on the IWAI (Inland Waterways Association of Ireland) website but much of it is out of date and, of the two we approached, one didn't reply at all and the other didn't answer our question as to whether their price included VAT (a not insignificant 23% in Ireland). The ferries likely to be used from the south of England are Pembroke Dock, Fishguard and Holyhead. Watch out for insurance. Some carriers are insured to carry boats; others only have general cargo insurance. If your prospective carrier is in the latter category you will need to insure your move separately.

 

Craning (or at least paying for it) is likely to be more of an issue than the carriage itself. Our UK lift cost about £800 and the Irish drop-in was about £1,100 (with carriage £3,000, including £1,000 for ferry fares). Sharing cranes or finding somewhere with an on-site crane could make significant savings. We are looking to return to Willowbridge Marina, on the GU just south of Milton Keynes where they have a crawler crane with a 23 tonne capability. ABC at Gayton have a 20 tonne one. Both these are potentially accessible to a southern-based broad beam. Once in Ireland, Sallins is an excellent place for being craned but you will probably get lifted cheaper by Lakeside, near Athlone, who have a hydraulic boat lifter.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

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Thanks for those contributions.

 

In answer to Magnetman, there are about 500 miles of navigable water, about 200 of which is true canal and a further 60 or 70 is what we in England would recognise as canalised rivers, the balance being the big lakes and connecting rivers, principally the Shannon. However, it's exploring the many side streams and the harbours on the big lakes which takes the time and leads me to suggest a two year trip. We didn't allow time to do these justice. It wouldn't be difficult to spend a 3-4 weeks exploring Lough Erne alone.

 

Getting a broad beam moved shouldn't be much of a problem, though I suppose it depends on just how broad it is. In the days of the IWA Nationals boats up to 12' beam used to arrive regularly by road. Just Google "Boat Haulage" or some similar phrase and a dozen names will come up. Don't ignore Irish ones as you might be able to get carried as a back load (that's if you don't share ours). There is a list of Irish carriers on the IWAI (Inland Waterways Association of Ireland) website but much of it is out of date and, of the two we approached, one didn't reply at all and the other didn't answer our question as to whether their price included VAT (a not insignificant 23% in Ireland). The ferries likely to be used from the south of England are Pembroke Dock, Fishguard and Holyhead. Watch out for insurance. Some carriers are insured to carry boats; others only have general cargo insurance. If your prospective carrier is in the latter category you will need to insure your move separately.

 

Craning (or at least paying for it) is likely to be more of an issue than the carriage itself. Our UK lift cost about £800 and the Irish drop-in was about £1,100 (with carriage £3,000, including £1,000 for ferry fares). Sharing cranes or finding somewhere with an on-site crane could make significant savings. We are looking to return to Willowbridge Marina, on the GU just south of Milton Keynes where they have a crawler crane with a 23 tonne capability. ABC at Gayton have a 20 tonne one. Both these are potentially accessible to a southern-based broad beam. Once in Ireland, Sallins is an excellent place for being craned but you will probably get lifted cheaper by Lakeside, near Athlone, who have a hydraulic boat lifter.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

 

If you are loking to be craned back into the Southern GU P & S Marine at Watford are a lot cheaper that £800. Their crane wil lift 30 tons

 

http://pandsmarine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-Price-List-1816-inc-VAT.pdf

 

Tim

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All the Irish waterways are broad, ie: 14'wide but with a shorter maximum length than the UK at 60'.

Sizes from the Royal Commission report on Irish waterways in 1911: The Royal Canal was more like 13ft 6in, along with one lock on the Barrow (the rest were 15ft 6in wide and 73ft long), and the Ulster was 11ft 9in. Locks on the Grand Canal were 14ft wide by 63ft 6in long, and on the Lagan 15ft to 16ft wide. Although there were very large locks on the middle Shannon, those on the upper reaches were 67ft 4in long by 13ft 10in wide.

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Thanks for those contributions.

 

In answer to Magnetman, there are about 500 miles of navigable water, about 200 of which is true canal and a further 60 or 70 is what we in England would recognise as canalised rivers, the balance being the big lakes and connecting rivers, principally the Shannon. However, it's exploring the many side streams and the harbours on the big lakes which takes the time and leads me to suggest a two year trip. We didn't allow time to do these justice. It wouldn't be difficult to spend a 3-4 weeks exploring Lough Erne alone.

 

Getting a broad beam moved shouldn't be much of a problem, though I suppose it depends on just how broad it is. In the days of the IWA Nationals boats up to 12' beam used to arrive regularly by road. Just Google "Boat Haulage" or some similar phrase and a dozen names will come up. Don't ignore Irish ones as you might be able to get carried as a back load (that's if you don't share ours). There is a list of Irish carriers on the IWAI (Inland Waterways Association of Ireland) website but much of it is out of date and, of the two we approached, one didn't reply at all and the other didn't answer our question as to whether their price included VAT (a not insignificant 23% in Ireland). The ferries likely to be used from the south of England are Pembroke Dock, Fishguard and Holyhead. Watch out for insurance. Some carriers are insured to carry boats; others only have general cargo insurance. If your prospective carrier is in the latter category you will need to insure your move separately.

 

Craning (or at least paying for it) is likely to be more of an issue than the carriage itself. Our UK lift cost about £800 and the Irish drop-in was about £1,100 (with carriage £3,000, including £1,000 for ferry fares). Sharing cranes or finding somewhere with an on-site crane could make significant savings. We are looking to return to Willowbridge Marina, on the GU just south of Milton Keynes where they have a crawler crane with a 23 tonne capability. ABC at Gayton have a 20 tonne one. Both these are potentially accessible to a southern-based broad beam. Once in Ireland, Sallins is an excellent place for being craned but you will probably get lifted cheaper by Lakeside, near Athlone, who have a hydraulic boat lifter.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks :)

 

I've had that boat transported by road before - she's only 40ftx9ft so nothing particularly big. Ireland sounds really nice !!

 

I had it lifted into the Thames at Bushnell's Wargrave - they have a nice travel hoist but not sure how long a vessel they can thread into the yard as the access is not amazing !

 

Thames and Kennet have a massive hoist and if I remember right not especially costly.

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Lovely boat by the way - I saw her a couple or three years ago opposite the Cape of Good Hope, Warwick.

 

Wandering off topic for just a moment, there's been some interest here regarding alternative drives, so it would be good to hear a bit about your propulsion and charging set up and your views on its practicality now you've plenty of experience under your belt. Perhaps a topic for another thread when you feel you have the time?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for the various contributions. As far as I can tell there isn't a lot of difference between craning costs at the various yards mentioned; it depends on whether their quoted prices include VAT or not (not always clear). All are about half the price of a mobile crane.

 

I apologise if the cost of our boat upsets Magnetman's sensibilities, though I can almost guarantee that the 30-odd percent escalation from the original estimate upset ours more. Given that so much of the boat is experimental it was unreasonable (probably impossible) to expect firm quotations but abandoning the build when it started to go over budget wasn't an option. We were just lucky that, having got together only about 6 years before the build started, we still had a 'spare' house to sell to cover most of the cost. (Without that it would have been my third self fit-out - and in a cheaper shell.) That said, we took great care to try to make Ampère as cheap to run as possible as we don't have infinite income.

 

I will take up Sea Dog's request for a discussion of alternative drive systems once I have enough data to give a worthwhile report. We couldn't move for over three months as a result of last Christmas' floods and had to bring in diesel in cans to allow us to run the generator at all. Consequently, any attempt to analyse Ampère's first year would lack a full-to-full measurement so would be largely guesswork. We topped our diesel tank soon after arriving in Ireland and have recently done so again, giving me the first chance to assess how efficient our systems are when cruising. A second topping after a winter of static living will give us the other side of the coin.

Edited by Rishworth_Bridge
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